Welcome back gamers to Top 10 Gaming, I'm your host Johnny Rogers.
To never miss another gaming trend make sure you tap that subscribe button and leave us
a comment down below with what your favorite alternate reality games are.
For those of you who don't know ARGs are an interactive networked narrative that uses
the real world to transmit a storyline that can be altered by a players ideas and actions.
Based on reactions to the videos the games designer will adjust the story as well as
the characters.
ARGs usually contain plot based challenges, puzzles and depend on collaborating with a
community of other players to analyze the story.
Now while you digest all of that we want to scare you away from some of those games by
telling you about the Top 10 Scary Alternate Reality Games You Should Never Play
#10 Cloverfield Many of you will remember the movie Cloverfield
that was released in 2008 and depicted a creature the size of a skyscraper wreaking havoc upon
New York City.
What many people don't know is that before the films release a Cloverfield alternate
reality game was released on the internet and left clues leading up to the film.
Things such as 1-18-08.com which hinted at the release date as well as the monsters origin
first appeared as well as promotions for a drink called Slusho thats main ingredient
was Seabed Nectar.
This nectar was said to have been discovered on the deep ocean floor perhaps giving more
details towards this monster.
A lot of the clues dropped were meant to be scary cryptic messaging meant for the public
to find and decode.
#9 Portal
During the March 1st patch for the game Portal, its developers created an easter egg that
contained their Alternate Reality Game.
A subtle not that came with the patch read - changed radio transmission frequency to
comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.- Along with that was a new achievement
called Transmission Received.
This ARG is also commonly referred to as the potato sack and revealed ahead of time details
about the games sequel Portal 2.
However the ARG complicated things by providing those courageous enough to decode the creepy
messages with more easter eggs that changes how you would view the story for the second
game.
#8 Year Zero With
many bands attempting to change the way they market in this modern era, the band Nine Inch
Nails kicked things up 42 notches by partnering with 42 entertainment to produce a promotional
alternative reality game.
The person behind the idea for this was the bands frontman Trent Reznor who said this
game is not a gimmick to buy their album, it IS the art form.
The story takes place in the year 2022 for which the government now refers to as year
zero.
The US has suffered multiple terrorist attacks, and as a result the US government now controls
absolutely everything.
Sound familiar.
Year zero is an immersive and interactive game meant to engage their community.
It all started with a nine inch nails shirt coded with a message that leads you to a variety
of different websites that speak of this dystopian future.
#7 The Sun Vanished This creepy alternative reality game was created
in late April of 2018 and through a twitter account follows an unnamed protagonist as
he attempts to stay alive in a world where the sun suddenly vanished.
Within the game there are these terrifying monsters simply known as the strobe.
They are the main antagonist for the story and are these strobing red lights that emit
a low frequency sound that brainwashes the remaining survivors.
The only information that we have on these strobe monsters is that they are using the
lights to connect to the minds of the living humans and connect them to an alien hive mind.
Were assuming so that whoever caused the sun to vanish can oversee the apocalypse.
#6 Meatsleep
This ARG still remains on YouTube to this day and has been regularly posting videos
since 2014.
Although the creator of this channel is still unknown we do know that the channel is maintained
by eleven people from eight different countries.
Thousands of fans for years have done their best to solve the mystery of who the main
character meat is and the message they are hoping to convey in these serial killer diary
style videos.
The main theme is usually some sort of cannibalism, stalking and even kidnapping.
Several fan theories have risen out of these strange videos which include the serial killer
one as I mentioned, meaning that the videos are from some sort of cannibalistic killer.
However the most likely explanation is that it is an ARG meant to tell a story through
its interactive network narrative.
#5 The 15 Experience
The 15 experience is an alternate reality game that shows players fifteen security camera
videos.
The official website says - I am a hacker.
I cannot tell you my name.
I have hacked into 15 IP cameras in an unknown home in an unknown location that appears to
have some sort of haunting or paranormal activity.
The images and sounds I have captured have compelled me to share this with the world.-
This website hasn't been updated in awhile as the premiere for the ARG happened in 2014,
but later on in 2017 the hacker returned to detail that the paranormal horrors that occurred
in those videos led to the disappearance of 4 people.
#4 I love Bees When this alternate reality game dropped it
was an experience unlike anyone had ever seen and perhaps one of the most genius yet scary
viral marketing campaign.
This game was also created by company 42 entertainment and was meant to hype gamers up for the release
of Halo 2.
The whole campaign kicked off when a mysterious package was sent out that contained a jar
of honey with letters in it.
When aligned correctly spelt out I love bees.
During the trailer teaser for halo 2 there official site flickered briefly showing a
different website called i love bees.com.
Players who investigated the site that looked like an amateur beekeepers website soon discovered
that there were puzzles that if solved released audio logs.
Gradually this released more of a fictional back-story that involved an artificial intelligences
plight of being stranded on Earth with this being the only way for it to piece itself
back together.
#3 Marble Hornets
The Marble Hornets ARG became a widely popular YouTube web series that was inspired by the
Slender Man myths.
All of their videos are classified as Entries from an abandoned film footage for a movie
called Marble Hornets.
To date there are 92 entries on the main channel with the most recent called Clear Lakes 44
being uploaded in 2015.
By watching the first seasons footage you discover that all of the filming seems to
be interrupted by some mysterious figure called the operator who is stalking the protagonist
wherever he goes.
#2 Hello Neighbor
Although very different from all of the other ARGs that weve mentioned on this list, Hello
Neighbor will send your anxiety through the roof just the same.
Hello neighbor is a stealth-horror game about breaking into your neighbors home.
When you move into a new home the player will begin to notice their neighbor acting in a
very mysterious and almost paranoid manner which leads you to believe that hes hiding
something in his basement.
Your task is to solve puzzles and gather items to successfully reach the basement without
getting caught.
#1 Junko Junsui
This alternate reality game started in 2009 and then just as quickly as it came out disappeared
without a trace.
A woman named Junko started messaging random people on the internet in search of kindred
spirits and her little sister.
Players soon discovered that Junkos sister was being held captive in an all white isolation
cell that makes solitary confinement look like fun.
A fake google page led viewers to what looked to be a live feed security camera of the woman
in the prison.
Over the course of two months a group called the sisterhood of the pure faced off against
a Russian Para-military organization.
Thousands of players watched as the character got more immersive and there puzzle solving
skills were put to the test.
It involved everything from code breaking to even speaking with this creepy bot in Second
Life.
Although there was no conclusion to this story the mythos of it still lives on.
And that has been the Top 10 Scary Alternate Reality Games You Should Never Play.
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Plus leave us a comment down below with which games youre going to play anyways.
From Top 10 Gaming, Im Johnny Rogers and until next time take care.